Category Archives: Harassment

The heat of the summer doesn’t seem to be slowing down State and Federal lawmakers keen to advance workplace reforms before election season kicks into full swing. For instance, on Friday, August 9, 2019, Governor Pritzker signed into law the Workplace Transparency Act (WTA), a bill inspired by the #MeToo movement and imposes several new obligations on employers to combat harassment, including requirement to provide annual harassment training of workers, a prohibition on some confidentiality agreements when they bar disclosure of harassment, discrimination and retaliation concerns; and an expansion of protections against harassment to independent contractors and to locations outside the physical workplace, both under certain conditions. Also, earlier today, August 12, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) published the first of its promised series of proposed rules to change union election processes. The most significant piece of the proposed rule would seem to make it easier for workers to vote to decertify or “oust” unions as their bargaining representatives.

Gary Savine, founder of Savine Employment Law, Ltd. will speak on workplace investigations as part of "I Know What You Did Last Summer: Workplace Investigations", a webinar for HR professionals presented by Financial Poise.

an Illinois Court of Appeals ruled, for the first time, that a legal entity, such as a corporation, can be sued under the Illinois Gender Violence Act (IGVA or Act) for sex discrimination. By doing so, the court dramatically increased the possible liability a business could face when it mishandles employee complaints of harassment if the target of those complaints later sexually assaults a coworker.

It’s been an active month for sex harassment legislation in Illinois. Here are some of the top legislative activities to keep on your radar screen: On August 13, Governor Rauner signed into law a ban on members of the General Assembly from using tax payer dollars as “hush money” to keep silent someone who has […]

Notice anything in the latest stories about sexual harassment and abuse? At the core of every case is the investigation. Yet, no two companies handle harassment investigations the same way. An investigation can sometimes be performed with inside staff, like an HR manager. But given the growing potential stakes, harassment complaints are often best handled […]